Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Armchair Travelers

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books for Armchair Travelers.  I am often reminded of a favorite quote that was on the wall in my first grade classroom:

There is no Frigate like a Book to take us Lands away. . .

Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart (1965). When Vanessa March catches sight of her husband on the news in Austria when she thought he was on business in Sweden, she gets on the first plane to investigate. Soon she finds herself involved in a mystery involved in a circus and the famous Lipizzaner horses. Stewart had an extraordinary gift for evoking place, layering detail with atmosphere to create memorable settings, shaping mood and character as powerfully as the plot (which is why I picked two of her books). My review.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022). I found this book a compelling but depressing look at turn of the century Appalachia. It follows the life of Damon "Demon" Copperhead, a boy born to a teenage single mother, as he navigates poverty, foster care, child labor, addiction (particularly the opioid crisis), and nonstop loss.

The Expats by Chris Pavone (2012). This is an espionage thriller about an American woman, Kate Moore, who moves to Luxembourg with her family, only to uncover a web of deceit involving another American couple and her own husband, forcing her to confront secrets from her past.  I accidentally read the second book first but both got me interested in Luxembourg.

A Killer in King's Cove by Iona Whishaw (2016). Lane Winslow, a former intelligence agent, is escaping from post-WWII England and looking for a new start in a tiny village in British Columbia. The last thing she expects in this rural community is a dead body on her property. This is a charming series, now up to 13 books. My review.

The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier (1931). Du Maurier’s first book is set in Cornwall about a shipbuilding family, led by Janet Coombe, whose passion for the sea is inherited by her difficult son - as a man, he can follow his dream of going to sea in a way his mother cannot. My review.

Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart (1955). This is one of my all-time favorite books, a romantic suspense story set in Provence in which Charity Selborne gets entangled in a dangerous plot involving a young boy and his murderous stepfather. My mother and I managed to trace Charity’s steps in 2021. 

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell (2022). Set in Renaissance Italy, this historical novel based on the life of Lucrezia de' Medici, forced into a political alliance with a dangerous man. The book follows Lucrezia from her sheltered life in Florence to the unfamiliar and dangerous court of Ferrara. This is the kind of book you go on thinking about after you finish.  My review.

Moon Over the Alps by Essie Summers (1960). After a disappointing relationship, Penny takes a new job as a governess on a remote New Zealand sheep station to forget. As she makes herself indispensable and begins to heal, the owner returns and turns out to be the man who disparaged her. I have wanted to visit New Zealand since I first started reading Summers’ books.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1989). In this Newbery winner, ten year old Annemarie Johansen learns that occupied Denmark is willing to take great risks to ensure the safety of as many of their Jewish neighbors as possible and that she has a part to play. My review.

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (2009). Having returned to the Amish community of Painters Mill, Ohio, Police Chief Kate Burkholder must confront a serial killer whose methods mirror a brutal case from her past, forcing her to face her own Amish heritage and family secrets.  The last time I was listening to a book in this series, an old friend phoned as he was driving to the Amish country in Ohio to purchase some furniture!  Isn't that an odd coincidence?  I told him he has to read this series!

I chose ten books with a strong sense of place. Have you read any of these?